Category: Stress Relief

Adulting is time consuming & stressful but what if you could reduce your stress. Can you imagine being able to say, “I have time for that” instead of “there’s no time for that”?

I find my mind wondering to ways I can prepare myself on the weekends so that our house runs smoother during the week and reduces stress. Some evenings, I don’t get home until the boys bedtime or later so having plans made & the house in working order is a must for us when Monday rolls around.

Don’t get me wrong, I married superman but a good marriage is about teamwork and we try to be consistent when it comes to a 50/50 split. Ok, ok, I might not be so good at cleaning but I cook so it gives him energy to clean. ?

Here’s my favorite tips on building a stress-free week.

1. Do your laundry on the weekends. Between the constant weekend errands & church & family & friends, I still find myself eager to get all the laundry washed, dried, folded or hung up before our eyes shut tight to start a new week. It gives me a sense of accomplishment!

I think this habit started for our family when we were first married & lived in an apartment. I would rather have just bought new clothes weekly than carry ten ton laundry baskets across an apartment complex & go back again & again to check on it. Don’t ask why I didn’t just drive the baskets to the laundry room, I was younger back then.

Tip: I have found the laundry runs much smoother when we do the kids laundry on Saturday & our laundry on Sunday. Why break it up & not just pile it? If you wash the laundry room by room, you only have one room at a time to put clothes up in. It goes much faster & there’s less chance for toddler hands to try to sweetly “help” fold things.

2. Relaxing “me” time on the weekends is a must to reduce your stress. Happy wife=happy life!

You can try these things to have a little “me” time:

Unrushed showers- You know, actutally rinse the conditioner completely out and shave!

New face mask- Personal fave right now is the Mary Kay Charcoal Mask.

File your forgotten nails- I forget this for weeks at a time. You could add this in while letting your mask dry.

Go to the bathroom without children barging in- Just a dream!

My personal fave…Tell your family your going to pick weeds from the garden so you can go enjoy mindlessly scrolling through Pinterest or your favorite blog, www.sparklewithuc.com uninterrupted, you can always pick weeds for real later. Don’t forget your cup of coffee & some sunglasses! You may be there awhile or until some tiny human sniffs you out.

Your week will run much smoother when you are less stressed which means your house will be more likely to be calm & peaceful which, lets be honest, translates into less mommy yelling & less guzzling of adult grape juice.

3. Grocery shop on Sunday afternoon or whichever day you choose. My children have started eating like ravenous bears before hibernation every night before bed & anytime we’re about to eat a meal. This doesn’t help me avoid the grocery store but I’m glad they’re eating something other than GoGurt & cereal bars these days.

This is momma’s dream cart, full of adult grape juice!

By shopping on the weekends you will start your week with the peace of mind that the fridge is full & ready for your little bears to snack away & eat you out of house & home. You will also know what meals you can make throughout the week so you can have meat defrosted or I know ahead of time if I need to pick up any items from the store on my way home.

4. Cash budgeters listen up. We are giving this our best shot but it doesn’t work so well if I wait until a weekday to pick money up from the bank. We have such a smooth way of talking ourselves into eating out that “just this one time” eating out without our cash turns into 2 or 3 different meals.

When your out and about on Friday (or Saturday if you have a bank that’s open on Saturdays), take out your food and gas allowance for that week. If you’re just an amazing planner, you might even be able to take out the next few weeks worth until payday hits again. That would prevent any lapse of your cash flow so you don’t have any need for your debit card.

5. Last but not least, family time. With two youngins, spending extra time with them before the crazy week begins is a must for them & us. Sunday night dinner is usually the time that we talk about what is coming up the next week between both our jobs, my oldests’ school activities and my classes. I’m soooooo ready to be finished with my master’s. 21 hrs down, 15 hrs to go!

I know that there are things that I don’t realize that I do to help reduce stress during the week but I will tell you that I have incorporated stress reduction into my daily life, fairly seamlessly.

How did you do? Last weeks workout was pretty intense and not very time conducive to this busy momma. So, it was back to the drawing board for another workout that is more my speed. But first, pull out those tape measures and see if you lost any inches. Yay for you if you did!!!! If you didn’t, keep working!

Everyone has pesky little problems that pop up now & again. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t. I’m assuming my current problem is coming from my system getting back into balance after five years of just being in overdrive survival mode!

So my current problem is not something I typically encounter because I have Sjögren’s syndrome which is a bi-product of my auto-immune diseases. I know, I hit the jackpot! Not 2 but 3 autoimmune disorders!

Sjögren’s syndrome is a lovely way of saying super duper desert dry! My eyes, my nose, my skin! I’ve just learned over time to deal with it. Restasis for the eyes, body butter for the skin & vaseline for the dry nose.

I asked my dr last month if he has had any patients complaining of dry, dry nose but he pulled up the Entivyo medical page and that is not a known side effect. Leave it to me to be an anomaly! He thinks it’s a combination of Entivyo, Xeljanz and Sjögren’s but I bet a little moisture in this Texas winter air would help a bit.

My hair right now is soooo confused! It’s usually dry so I give it a few sprays of coconut oil a day before I shower & it stays away from being brittle. I used to lather the whole head up with coconut oil until last summer when I got the plumber bill & the cause….coconut oil clog! Watch out ladies, the balanced hair struggle is real!

So, my solution to the oily hair issue has been drawn out. I have changed hair care, no help. I quit coconut oil, no help. I was kinda at a loss for what to do but then the light bulb went off & I decided to try the Herbalife hair care line. It smells amazing!!!! It’s less than I would spend on my favorite Organix shampoo & conditioner & I am already a distributor so why not give it a shot.

I dove in head first & bought the shampoo & conditioner, body wash, bar soap & the lotion, which I already use regularly.

So what have I experienced!

Shampoo & conditioner: Did I mention that my hair smells so fresh & clean…all day long! You know that squeaky noise your hair makes when it’s clean? Well, I can still hear the squeak before bed! My hair is not oily anymore, unless I play with it too much. I think I’ll be able to wash it every other day again! Yay!!!

Body wash & bar soap: My skin doesn’t feel dry after I use the bar soap. My trusty old friend has always been Zest but I get out of the shower & have to immediately slather the lotion on thick to last the day without my skin feeling tight & irritated. I think I’ll be switching to the Herbalife bar soap when I run out of the Zest. The body wash is moisturizing & silky & my skin seems to hold the moisture until I shower the next day. For someone with dry skin, this is the best thing since pumpkin spice creamer!

Hand & body cream: I’ve loved this cream since I laid eyes on it. Have I mentioned how wonderful it smells. It’s not a sticky or oily moisture that you get from the lotion like my usual body butter or coconut oil. It’s just the right amount of moisture for me!

So, I hadn’t planned to sell you anything here but I apparently advertised for the Herbalife Herbal Aloe line anyway. Run to your favorite Herbalifer & get some.

Anyway, the moral of this story is, don’t be afraid to change. Life is a never ending story & you have to adapt with the twists & turns.

I love playing with flowers! There’s something amazingly calming about digging in the dirt & planting things.I love to take pictures over time to watch the change.

This beauty was close to death but a touch of miracle grow & some major sun…voila!

I am a stresser! I stress about everything even before it’s a possibility that I need to worry about it. One thing that I find to help with de-stressing is taking care of my flowers. I might venture to food plants someday but for now I just plant for pretty flower beds.

There’s a lot to be learned from gardening. I love quotes, especially paired with a pretty picture so here’s my wisdom learned from gardening:

I mean, I really really love nap time, especially those weekends following crazy weeks where our household doesn’t stop going until bedtime. Today after supervising a group of STAAR testers & then keeping them quiet for another hour after they finished testing. I’m exhausted! I could really use a nap!

This is my second blog about naps so I might have an unhealthy attachment to napping of any length. I’m best with a few hours but I’ll take a cat nap if that’s all I can get.

Through my research I’ve learned that 10 to 20 mins boosts alertness & energy. Yay for that, but it’s a little too short for me. 60 mins shows an improvement in remembering facts. Awesome! This is what my school kids need everyday. Why did we stop napping after kindergarten if it’s so beneficial to memory?! 90 mins can show improved emotional & procedural memory & creativity. Once again, that would be super beneficial in school.

Sadly, somedays I’m lucky to get a short power nap before my littlest man wakes up from his nap. Power naps greatly benefit areas that I’m seriously lacking in. Probably most of my issues can be contributed to having children or sleep deprivation but some could come from my diseases.

I am probably extremely boring to those around me but I find a nap exciting! I am a WILD woman! This picture is so true, minus the quilting, I’ve never done that.
I can’t wait until the weekend for my naps!

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I’m so glad you found me! I am a busy wife and mother to two adorable but high energy boys who is a history teacher and coach. Follow my story as I navigate my busy world overcoming the obstacles of ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis.

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